The Thoras'Xas: A Demon Hunter Hero Class Concept

So, the Demon Hunter topic has come up again. With the next expansion announcement imminent, I’d like to post this idea I’ve been working on a bit over the last two months. It’s doubtful any such class is in the works, but we need something to amuse ourselves with while we wait for Blizzcon. Sorry I don't have fancy images, but look below for a post with a full treatment of the DH's intro and leveling experience, and some in-game lore.

Demon Hunter

Demon hunters are a new hero class open to all playable races. They will begin at level 55, and follow the same leveling trajectory as death knights.

ORDER OF OUTCASTS

For ten thousand years, a secret order has protect Azeroth from the shadows. Feared, hated, and banished for wielding dangerous powers, they have watched over the world, fighting secret wars in isolated regions to keep the darkness at bay.

But the world is filling up, and the threats are greater than ever. Now, Demon Hunters are stepping out of the shadows, seeking allies and recruits to battle the impending Legion invasion.

Fighting Style:

The Demon Hunter’s iconic weapon is the Warglaive. The long, curved, double-bladed weapons led demon hunters to develop a fighting style that is extremely close, closer than regular melee combatants like. Wide, arcing weapon attacks, coupled with kicks and body blows, keeps the enemy off balance and vulnerable to sudden bursts of magic.

The peoples of Azeroth have romanticised the demon hunter’s warglaives, but the truth is that the demon hunter is capable with a wide assortment of weapons. One-hand swords, axes, and maces are equally effective, and some DHs are known to use fist weapons and daggers.

Darkness Within:

When a demon dies in the mortal plane, its spirit returns to the Twisting Nether, to wait for another entry or summon to the mortal realm. This is how warlocks are able to summon the same indentured demons time after time, and sometimes even sacrifice the creatures to siphon their essences for additional power.

Demon Hunters make no such deals. A new demon hunter seeks out and slaughters a powerful demon that represents the powers he wants to wield. Then, the demon hunter captures its spirit before it can return to the Nether, absorbing it into himself. This gives the DH access to immense power, and equal danger. The captured demon is always within him, and the more often the DH taps its power, the more he risks losing himself to his prisoner.

All DHs have black tattoos on their torsos. When the War Within debuff is active, the tattoos glow brightly with a different color for each spec. Immolation is orange, Bulwark is green, and Spellbreaker is blue.

Resources: Demonic Will

Demon hunters use mana as their primary resource. They have a mana pool equivalent to a retribution paladin or enhancement shaman, and maintain it in a similar manner.

They have a secondary resource called Demonic Will. When the DH uses certain powerful abilities fueled by the demon spirit he has absorbed, the demon gains strength. Over reliance on the demon risks allowing the creature to take control of the DH, causing it to kill him (solo) or turn on his allies (in party).

Demonic Will stacks to 5, and loses one stack every 15 seconds. If the player reaches five stacks, a debuff called War Within is applied, which takes 30 seconds to expire. Each additional Demonic Will-generating ability used while at five stacks will add a stack to War Within, instead.

After the first stack of War Within, there is a chance for successive stacks to place a debuff on the demon hunter, reducing his stats by a small amount. Upon ending combat, the player has a 25% chance per stack to lose control to his demon.

Out of combat, stacks of Demonic Will and War Within drop every 5 and 10 seconds, respectively.

This puts the DH in a unique place where their secondary resource is a negative effect, rather than a positive.

SPECS:

Each spec is associated with a certain demon. The DH will kill all these demons as part of the hero class starting zone, absorbing part of the demons’ spirits to grant powers for the specs.

Immolation: the DH carries the spirit of an Infernal within him, giving him access to greater fire abilities and damage.

Bulwark: the DH carries the spirit of a Doomguard within him, granting increased health, armor, and threat generation, and unlocking powerful survival tools.

Spellbreaker: the DH carriers the spirit of a felhunter within him, allowing him great strength in controlling and absorbing magic. Either a second tanking spec, or a PvP oriented DPS spec.

ABILITIES:Baseline:

Fel Blade: A powerful attack with both weapons.Backslash: A spinning attack, striking with the offhand weapon.Searing Blade: Channel fire through your weapon, dealing X fire damage and Y additional damage over 8 seconds.Ankle Kick: A swift kick at your foe’s legs, dealing damage and slowing him for ten seconds.Shadowblast: Fires a burst of shadow energy at the target. 30 yard range.Glaive Storm: Attack all nearby enemies with both weapons, dealing X damage over three seconds.Subdue Demon: Clears all charges of Demonic Will and War Within. Ten minute cooldown.Legion Discipline: Increases Mastery rating of all party and raid members.Demonic Desperation: Tap the power of your bound demon to reduce damage taken and increasing healing received by 20%. Adds one charge of Demonic Will.

Spec Abilities:

Immolation: Melee DPS with emphasis on fire and channeled abilities.

Passive - Burning Wrath: Your critical strikes invoke Burning Wrath, causing successive physical attacks to deal additional fire damage. This has a chance equal to your crit chance to add a charge of Demonic Will.Mastery - Rising Wrath: Increases the damage of Burning Wrath, and reduces the chance for it to add a charge of Demonic Will.Project flame: Channel fire in a cone for three seconds. Adds one stack of Demonic WillBurning Path: Ignites the ground beneath the DH, leaving a patch of fire that persists for 15 seconds.Blade dance: Attack the enemy with both weapons, striking multiple times over 3 seconds.Flame Cleave: Your next melee attack deals fire damage to all nearby enemies.Metamorphosis - Inferno: Take on the form of a fiery demon, Burning everything nearby and causing all attacks to deal additional fire damage. Adds one charge of Demonic Will.

Bulwark: Tanking DH who uses his powers to make himself much harder to kill.

Mastery - Dominion: Reduces the duration of each stack of Demonic Will.Willpower (passive): Increases health and armor, reduces damage taken and chance to be critically hit, and War Within will not kill the DH when he defeats a mob less than two levels higher than him.Shear: Slash all nearby targets, applying the Weakened Blows debuff.Flame Crash: Leap at a targeted location, hitting all nearby enemies with fire.Felskin: Absorbs X damage for the next five seconds. 15 second CD.Fel Challenge: A demonic command that forces your target to attack you.Martyr’s Endurance: Increases maximum health by 5% and heals the DH for 15% of his current Max HP. Stacks up to five times. Lasts 25 seconds, 10 second CD. Cannot build more than one stack out of combat. Bladeward: Charge your weapon with fel energy, increasing parry chance and causing your melee attacks and parries to deal shadow damage to the enemy. Lasts 20 seconds. Adds one Charge of Demonic Will.Frenzy: Increases dodge, parry, haste, and crit by 15% each for 10 seconds. Adds one Charge of Demonic Will.Draw Soul: Deals damage to the target, healing the DH for a large amount. Adds one Charge of Demonic Will.Metamorphosis - Undying: Take on the form of a void demon, reducing damage taken by 50%. Adds one Charge of Demonic Will.

Spellbreaker: A DH who reacts to and counters his enemies’ attacks.

Mastery - Retaliation: You have a chance of reflecting a percentage of direct damage attacks back at your attacker.Throwdown (passive): All distance closing effects used against the DH (charge, death grip, etc.) will result in the enemy being knocked to the ground and stunned for three seconds. This effect cannot occur more than once every 15 seconds.Capture magic (passive): The DH will absorb up to 20% of the damage a magic effect would cause to him, storing it for later use. This effect cannot occur more than once every six seconds.Unleash Magic: The DH unleashes all the stored magic he has captured, dealing arcane damage to his target.Consume Magic: Uses the captured magic to heal the DH.Focus of Wrath: When placed upon an enemy target, the DH will have a singular focus on that enemy. Capture Magic, Throwdown, and Retaliation will ignore all other enemies’ attacks, but will have increased frequency and effect against the Focused target. The Focused target’s movement speed is slowed to 70%. Focus will persist until the DH casts on a new target or the focused target gets more than 60 yards away from the DH. DH can cancel the effect by recasting on the same target. Adds one charge of Demonic Will.Weakness for Strength: Steal a beneficial effect from an enemy target, replacing it with up to three harmful effects that are on you. Adds one charge of Demonic Will.Leaping Kick: Jump upward and strike with your knee. Critical hits will disorient your target.Mageblade: A weapon attack that deals arcane damage.Counterstrike: Parry the next melee attack, immediately counterattacking with both weapons.Barrier: Project a barrier of arcane energy, absorbing damage from enemies in front of you. Lasts three seconds, 10 second cooldown. You cannot attack during this effect, and movement speed is reduced.Metamorphosis - Hunger: Take on the form of devouring demon, consuming your target’s resources and dealing additional damage. Damage is increased if the target has no resource. Adds one charge of Demonic Will.

TALENTS:

Survival (Row 1):Hellchains: Nearby enemies are snared by fel power, incapacitating them for up to thirty seconds. Desperate Measure: Instantly grants the DH 50% of his max HP, and another 50% over five seconds. Adds one charge of Demonic Will.Martyr’s Blades: Blade Dance, Bladeward, and Mageblade heal the DH for a % of the damage done.

Melee combat (Row 2):Eyeblast: Fires a beam of fel power at your currently target. Melee range only.Blade Capture: Drive your weapons deep into your enemy’s flesh, holding him incapacitated for two seconds as you work the weapons deeper. The target will bleed heavily for fifteen seconds after the effect ends.Flurry: Attack your enemy three times a second for at least one second. Each strike has a 33% chance of adding another strike.

CC (row 5):Demon Kick: A spinning back kick that knocks your opponent backwards. Replaces Ankle Kick.Vision of Terror: Fire a burst of fel energy from your burning eye sockets, causing your target to flee in horror for three seconds.Void Prison: Send your target to the Void, removing them from combat for up to one minute.

Major DPS CDs (Row 6):Manifestation: Causes your bound demon spirit to create a shadowy image and fight by your side. The image will attack your target, and will have an additional spec-specific function. Adds two charges of Demonic Will.Immolation - The manifestation pulses AoE fire damage for the duration of its presence.Bulwark - The manifestation’s health is equal to yours, and it takes 35% of all damage you receive over ten seconds or until its health reaches zero.Spellbreaker - The Manifestation will use Throwdown and Capture Magic while your own effects are on cooldown, and will use them against other enemies while you have a target as your Focus of Wrath.Burning Sight: Channels felfire at your target for six seconds, leaving a line of flame on the ground that persists for thirty seconds. The DH can move, dodge, parry, and auto-attack while the effect channels. 30 yard range, adds two charges of Demonic Will.Inner Demons: You draw out the darkness within your target, dealing damage and creating a demonic essence that will continue attacking the target. If your target does not kill it within six seconds, he will be stunned for six seconds. If the target cannot be stunned the essence will do additional damage when it expires. Adds two charges of Demonic Will.

It's cool for lore reasons but honestly I think giving players the ability to MC themselves to attack their party when they are low from killing a boss is only going to get used as a griefing tool somehow

And having it kill you when solo will just disincentivise using cooldowns even more than most classes do (where they don't do it because it's pointless and enemies die easily anyway)

Feronas Sindweller: A senior demon hunter, is pushing for DHs to reach out

Upon character creation, the introduction cinematic swoops down over Mount Hyjal to the entrance of Xas’Aran, and into the caverns.

For thousands of years, a secret order of elven warriors has stood watch over Azeroth. Exiled for wielding demonic powers, the Thoras’xas have battled hidden evils in the far corners of the world. But Azeroth is filling up, and the threats are growing greater.

Now, the Demon Hunters are taking recruits from all the peoples of Azeroth. As one of those promising recruits, you must master the powers of demons, or die trying. Death is your only respite, Vengeance your only motive, and the destruction of the Burning Legion your only purpose.

Quest Accepted: Trial by Combat
Quest giver: Feronas Sindweller

“So. The future of our order rests with you.

“We’ve been out of the world for a very long time. Perhaps Kartoran is right, and they aren’t ready to accept us. But we know they need us, even if they don’t want us. Win this fight, prove yourself, and you might get the chance to save them all.

“You can warm up on the training dummies if you like. Speak to me when you’re ready for the summoning.”

The player begins as a fully fledged DH, albeit with no spec or talents. He is dropped right into the middle of the story, with only a chance to practice your basic skills before fighting a mad DH. The fight cannot be won, the enemy will at most fall to half HP. Once the player reaches 10% he falls to the ground. Sindweller will shout at him: “Remember why you are here! Remember what you have lost!”

From there, we begin a flashback. The player is a citizen of a new village established as a place for all their faction’s races to live together. Alliance will set up on the coast of Darkshore, Horde in Azshara. You have a few quests to accomplish, representing life in the community. There are a few simplified melee combat abilities, used to fight off wolves scavenging around the edge of the village.

A quest leads to the inn, where you learn about several mysterious figures who have passed through the town. You head out to investigate, and find several warlocks creating a portal. Waves of demons pour out and rush to the village. You will fight until you are beaten, when a cut scene will show three demon hunters arrive and kill all the demons. The warlocks will escape.

You are one of the only survivors. Another survivor is an elf (Night or Blood, based on faction), who knows what DHs are and briefly explains. Sindweller, the lead DH, tells you survivors to return to your home cities, as these wild lands are becoming overrun.

Your next quest will tell you to follow the DHs. You and your elf friend can tail them across the zone, until they trap you. They offer to let you join them, to train to avenge your losses. Or to join your loved ones in death, as you are more likely to die during training.

This takes you to Xas’Aran, where you begin DH training. You will immediately receive your core DH abilities, and begin quests to learn to become a DH. Each spec will unlock one at a time, as you kill and absorb the appropriate demons. You will be able to change specs freely until you complete the initial starting area.

The trainers will also present you with a prisoner, a warlock who helped orchestrate the destruction of your village. The warlock breaks his restraints and attacks, using his Metamorphosis. Sindweller also Metas (Hunger?), easily subduing the warlock. He then mocks the warlock for his weak imitation powers, and explains the much deeper, more effective use that Demon Hunters have for metamorphosis and fel power in general.

He also warns you to never trust a warlock, as they are selfish, power-mad, and risking damnation for their own ends.

A critical juncture in the story comes when a Cenarion druid arrives. He reports that a massive demonic portal has opened in Hyjal, and asks for the Thoras’xas to join the Circle in battling it. The battle is costly to the DHs, and is only won when additional champions join the fight.

After returning to Xas’Aran, Sindweller pushes the idea of sending DHs out into the world, to join other champions and prepare them to face the Legion. He points to you as an example of what the DHs could offer the world. Kartoran counters by presenting your elf friend, who has succumbed to the control of the demon she tried to absorb. The leader declares that she must be killed to set her soul free of this torture.

Kartoran offers a challenge: if Sindweller’s prized pupil can defeat the demon-possessed elf, you will be returned to your own people to aid them against the Legion and other threats.

This ends the “flashback”. You are back in the fight you began at, this time with your spec and talents active, and can kill the demon-possessed elf.

Afterwards, you are sent to either Darnassas or Orgrimar. The warlock who has been held prisoner has finally broken, and warns of impending attacks against those cities. You arrive just in time to prevent their summonings. After a final quest where you are accepted back into your faction, you will be able to join the regular questing experience.

- - - Updated - - -

Originally Posted by Imnick

It's cool for lore reasons but honestly I think giving players the ability to MC themselves to attack their party when they are low from killing a boss is only going to get used as a griefing tool somehow

And having it kill you when solo will just disincentivise using cooldowns even more than most classes do (where they don't do it because it's pointless and enemies die easily anyway)

The idea is not to disincentivise so much as to make players manage their debuffs and not abuse powerful abilites with short cooldowns. Bad DHs will get themselves killed. Good DHs won't. Great DHs will know when to push it to get the win, even if it will cost them afterwards.

Also, imagine how cathartic it will be to get to kill scrubs in LFR after each boss kill.

I know it is, and honestly it's something I'd laugh at
...but I feel like if it was actually implemented it would end up as "you just can't build stacks past this level because if you did the demon takes over"

I think your concept is really cool but I don't think the demonic will idea is good. Maybe changing it to the better you control your inner demon,the better you are at your role? No need for it to cause negative effect.

First: do you realize that name is quite hard to pronounce?
Second: honestly, have you ever thought how you could spend your time better?

And even though it's reached new heights, I rather like the restless nights. It makes me wonder, makes me think there's more to this, I'm on the brink. It's not the fear of what's beyond, it's just that I might not respond! I have an interest, almost craving, would I like to get to far in?!

It's definitely not a bad idea. Also, I love the idea of having to complete a little quest chain in order to unlock each spec. You have to gather the reagents for, summon, battle, and bind the soul of that specific demon to you. Hell, they could even turn it into a series of dailies like they did with the monks, where every day you either gather reagents, summon and battle, or bind the souls of various demons with each fight being different and each demon requiring different things.

I love Demon Hunters too!

I think the name would be easier to pronounce as 'Tharo'Xan', personally. It also sound appropriately demony.